Vernon March - Career

Career

The March family established studios at the family home of Goddendene in Locksbottom, Farnborough. In 1911, Vernon exhibited two of his works at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Annual Exhibition. Between 1907 and 1927, he exhibited seven times at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, with a total of twelve works. Vernon had the distinction of being the youngest exhibitor at the Royal Academy of Arts, as he was just sixteen when his sculpture of Psyche was exhibited and purchased on the third day of the event in 1907.

Years later, the prodigy was awarded the commission for the Cape Town War Memorial, to honour the fallen of World War I. The monument has a sandstone base and columns, with bronze plaques and figures. It features winged Victory holding a laurel wreath, and standing on top of a globe, a serpent of evil under her feet. The angel on the tall central column is flanked by two South African soldiers on shorter columns. The cenotaph is located on Adderley Street in Cape Town, South Africa. It now commemorates not only the fallen soldiers of World War I, but also World War II and the Korean War. The monument was originally unveiled on 3 August 1924. Street widening in 1959 required that the memorial be moved and reoriented. At that time, additional plaques commemorating the soldiers of World War II and the Korean War were added. The Cape Town War Memorial was then unveiled for the second time on 8 November 1959. It is the site of the annual Armistice Day wreath-laying ceremony and procession. In 2012, relocation of the cenotaph to another site was contemplated.

While the Samuel de Champlain Monument in Orillia, Ontario was installed in 1925, a year after the Cape Town memorial, the process began years earlier. Charles Harold Hale was known as "Mr. Orillia" due to his myriad accomplishments on behalf of the city. The idea of a monument to Champlain in the city of Orillia was his brainchild. Hale championed the cause and obtained funding for the project. The competition in 1912 for the design garnered twenty-two entries from three countries, Canada, England, and France. The winning entry was submitted by twenty-year-old Vernon March. The initial target date for completion of the monument was August 1915, to honour the 300th anniversary of Champlain's visit to Huronia. However, World War I delayed the project. The Champlain monument was finally unveiled on 1 July 1925 in Couchiching Park in Orillia, Ontario. On a central pedestal stands a twelve foot tall bronze Champlain in full court attire. Below him on one side there is a robed priest holding a cross above Canadian natives. This side symbolises Christianity. On the side symbolising Commerce, there is a fur trader examining a pelt with two additional natives.

A war memorial dedicated to the citizens of Derry, Northern Ireland who lost their lives in World War I was first considered by public leaders in 1919. After several years of efforts at obtaining the necessary funding, the design and location of the monument were approved by the local war memorial committee in April 1925. Vernon March won the commission to build the memorial that he and his brother Sydney March had designed. The Diamond War Memorial is of bronze and Portland stone. In the center, a winged Victory holds aloft a laurel wreath. The tall column on which she stands has the names of the fallen on four sides. At the base of the monument there are two bronze figures on shorter columns, a soldier on one side who represents the Army and a sailor on the other who represents the Navy. The cenotaph is located on The Diamond in the center of the walled city of Derry. It was unveiled on 23 June 1927.